The Best Chinese Restaurants in Chinatown

New York City, a global mecca for shopping is also famous for its extravagant variety of cuisines. Chinatown is home to the largest population of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere. And when it comes to finding Chinese cuisine in Manhattan’s Chinatown, be warned that it is going to be daunting. Speedy shopkeepers peep through the windows while children play ball in the streets. And in those crumbling alleys and storied nooks, you’ll still find buckets of that greasy, old-school charm, and much else. But hey, if you’re open to culinary adventure and want it easy on your moolah, there aren’t many places in the city to get your fill. If it’s merely low costs and high value you’re after, you’d be delinquent to give NYC a visit and not pass through Chinatown for a bite.

Don’t forget though – finding the good food in Chinatown takes a little time and a whole lot of patience. And if clean and tidy floors that you’re after, well, sorry to say, but you are better suited to grab grub somewhere else.

There’s no question that Manhattan’s Chinatown is going through a massive shift. Yet amid cut-throat competition from upscale dining destinations from Flushing and Sunset Park, Chinatown seems a step ahead. The food scene between Lafayette and Allen is transforming, with restaurants introducing many a great delight to the neighborhood’s traditional tables of dim sum, ramen, and seafood.

Unlike what most believe, Chinatown’s best restaurants are a lot more than dim sum and Peking duck; though it’s very much replete with options for both of them, and ramen as well. But it would be in your interest to keep in mind that the food possibilities expand well beyond city’s best-known Chinese restaurants.

With a whole lot of atmosphere and of course, good food, here are some of the best places to eat in Chinatown.